Reaction from both sides taps strongly held values

Church every Sunday. Camping with the family every Memorial Day. A football game every Thanksgiving with the same 17 buddies who played football at Corona del Mar High School more than 35 years ago.

On top of that, he was an Eagle Scout (“Only thing from childhood I ever put on my résumé,” he says) – just like his dad before him.

So last week when he heard the Boy Scouts may drop its policy against allowing gay scouts or leaders, he says he initially felt “disturbed.”

“This is a longstanding, historical tradition,” Freeman, of Lake Forest, says of the policy. “They should have a right, as an organization, to include or exclude whoever they want.”

How many Americans agree with that is a tough question.

A coalition of Christian-based organizations across the country bought a full-page ad in USA Today this week pressing the Scouts to maintain its ban on gay members.

Locally, retired U.S. Marine Capt. William Kohler of Laguna Hills spoke for more than a few when he emailed the Register to say: “If homosexuals want to belong, then they should start their own Homosexual Boy Scouts of America.”

For many, that attitude is a traditional value. Unwavering. Unyielding.

For others, it is an outdated value. Inappropriate. Bigoted.

“I am appalled that it is still going on,” wrote Lori Alder of Fullerton, a former committee chairwoman with the Cub Scouts. “I wouldn't even consider purchasing a can of nuts from them a few months ago because of their hateful policy against gays.”

Moral lines have been drawn. The question remains: Is barring gays from the Boy Scouts a traditional value? Or is it hateful?

As someone steeped in the traditional values of Scouting, Tom Freeman says he had to think about that one.

WHAT'S HAPPENING

For 102 years, the Boy Scouts of America has taught our sons to be honest, respectful and trustworthy – to be good citizens.

Along the way, it also barred openly gay Scouts and Scout leaders. In 2000, the group took that fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the Boy Scouts could maintain its ban.

That's why last week's announcement – that the organization's national executive board may drop the policy at today's meeting in Irving, Texas – sent shock waves across Scouting.

“It's a divisive issue,” says Jeff Herrmann, president of Bass' Orange County Council, which includes 27,000 Scouts. “I hope, wherever this goes, the cure doesn't become worse than the perceived illness.”

If the policy is lifted, it does not mean that every Scout troop would be open to gays. Rather, it means that each of the Bass' 116,000 sponsoring organizations – be they religious, civic or educational – would be free to lift or maintain the ban.

Some see that as a compromise. Some see it as a cop-out.

“I just don't think it goes far enough,” says Kevin O'Grady, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Center in Santa Ana. “If, as an organization, they're saying, ‘Discrimination and bigotry are wrong,' then ban it at the national level. Don't just put it off to local organizations.

“The two biggest sponsors are the Catholic Church and the Mormons,” he adds. “So I wouldn't expect to see any great change – except now it allows the national Boy Scouts to wash their hands” of perceived discrimination.

Both sides have been lobbying all week.

Some 1.4 million people signed petitions against the existing policy and mailed them to the executive council in Texas. Meanwhile, the Traditional Values Coalition, based in Anaheim, sought donations to lobby for continuing the ban, reaching out to potential donors with an email saying: “I'm sure you're hearing about the scandalous possibility that the Boy Scouts of America could potentially announce next week they will allow homosexuals to serve as scoutmasters. This is a horrifying development.”

The O.C. Council's Herrmann has heard plenty from both sides. He wants them both to know this:

“Part of our charter with the national organization is that we agree to support the decisions of the national board,” he says.

“So no matter what happens, we're obliged to carry that out.”

The question remains: Why is this so divisive?

POINTS OF VIEW, CONFLICT

Part of the answer is the fact that Scouting involves children. And whenever there is talk of sexuality and kids, parents get nervous.

For another, we're talking about homosexuality: Some believe it's an immoral lifestyle choice, and they don't want gay Scout leaders as role models for their children. Others see homosexuality as a genetic trait with no moral implications and have no problem with gay men and women leading Scouts.

Then there's the matter of religion, says Gordon Bakst, who teaches political theory at Chapman University in Orange.

The Boy Scouts is not a religious organization. But faith-based organizations sponsor about 70 percent of all Scout units, giving them strong influence over the BSA. And therein lies the problem, according to Bakst.

Americans accept discrimination in religion, he says, citing the fact that women often cannot rise to positions of power in many religions and that Americans tend to believe that religions are entitled to their own belief systems. But we don't accept discrimination as readily in the private sector, and we're even less inclined to accept it when it involves public or quasi-public organizations.

“Increasingly, most of the country does not support discrimination based on sexual orientation,” Bakst says.

Others point out that Scouting historically has been inclusive.

In the early 20th century, Scouts welcomed black and Jewish members when other groups wouldn't, says Abbie E. Goldberg, a psychology professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., and author of “Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children.”

Now?

They might choose to take a step toward returning to those roots.

SHAPING GOOD CITIZENS

It's not just Boy Scout bureaucrats who are facing a choice this week. The issue also touches some 4 million Scouts, Scout leaders and families connected to Scouting.

Former Eagle Scout Tom Freeman – who said he was disturbed when he first heard the ban might be lifted – says he's reconsidered his views.

“The more thought I put into the idea, the more I believe that gay kids should be able to have the same opportunities that I had” with the Boy Scouts.

While he believes there should be supervision, he says there also should be acceptance of gays in leadership positions. In America, that's a traditional value too.

“I recognize there are quite a number of people who would shout at the top of their lungs against a change in the Boy Scouts policy,” he says.

“But I am for the Boy Scouts helping shape young men into good citizens in any way they can.”

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